Conditions and warranties (ss. 11-17): the distinction, when a condition sinks to a warranty, and the implied conditions and warranties of title, description, fitness, merchantable quality and sample
LUG-103 Law of Contract including Specific Relief Act & Sale of Goods Act, Unit V: Conditions and warranties. · LLB · 60 min
The Sale of Goods Act 1930 divides the stipulations of a contract of sale into conditions, whose breach lets the buyer reject the goods, and warranties, whose breach gives damages only (s. 12), and tells us when a condition must be treated as a warranty (s. 13). It then implies into every sale a set of conditions and warranties - title (s. 14), description (s. 15), fitness for purpose and merchantable quality (s. 16), sample (s. 17) - unless the parties exclude them (s. 62). This lecture explains each with the leading cases (Wallis v. Pratt, Rowland v. Divall, Niblett, Priest v. Last, Frost v. Aylesbury Dairy, Grant v. Australian Knitting Mills, Baldry v. Marshall, Morelli) and the way the examiner asks for the distinction.
Objectives
- Define condition and warranty under s. 12 and distinguish them with their consequences in a table
- Explain when a condition is to be treated as a warranty under s. 13 (waiver, election, acceptance) and the effect of an exclusion clause
- State the implied conditions of title, description, fitness for purpose, merchantable quality and sample and the implied warranties of quiet possession and freedom from encumbrance
- Apply the leading cases - Rowland v. Divall, Niblett, Wallis v. Pratt, Priest v. Last, Frost, Grant, Baldry v. Marshall, Morelli - to a problem
- Explain the stipulation as to time in s. 11 and the buyer's remedy for breach of warranty in s. 59
Slides
- Stipulations in a contract of sale: s. 11 (time) and s. 12 (condition and warranty)
- Condition v warranty: the comparison table
- Section 13: when a condition is to be treated as a warranty
- Express and implied terms; exclusion (s. 62) and the strict reading of exclusion clauses
- Implied condition as to title (s. 14(a)) and warranties of quiet possession and freedom from encumbrance (s. 14(b), (c))
- Sale by description: s. 15
- Fitness for the buyer's purpose: s. 16(1) with Priest v. Last, Frost, Grant and Baldry
- Merchantable quality (s. 16(2)) and usage of trade (s. 16(3))
- Sale by sample (s. 17), the implied warranties summarised, and the remedy for breach of warranty (s. 59)
- How the examiner asks it
Loading the lecture…